The last day of summer term
by Imagine.a.butterflys.soul
Summary: This is a Rachel/Eddie centred piece. Contains sports day, a musical, and the prom! There is slight reference of a sexual nature and language therefore i have rated it T just to be on the safe side. this is my first fic so reviews are always welcome.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 

It was the last day of term at Waterloo Road and as usual Rachel Mason drove swiftly into the empty car park at 8:00 am. As she ascended from her silver Mazda she could feel the early morning breeze stroking her face as she breathed in the light scent of summer. She stopped for a short moment, leaning against the side of her car, savouring the warm invitation from another morning in July. Summer was Rachel's favourite season, purely for the fact that she found it automatically lightened the mood.

Taking a deep breath, Rachel signalled to herself that she was ready for another day at Waterloo road, as she took her laptop and bag out of the boot of her car before making her way into the empty school.

It wasn't un-common for Rachel to arrive at school a couple of hours before the academic day was due to start; in fact she did it nearly every day. Today was one of the biggest days of the year and Rachel was glad that she had gotten up on the right side of the bed this morning as sports day was never her most favoured thing in the world. However it did mean that her day was going to be relatively easy as everyone would be pre-occupied running about. Also it was followed by the schools musical performance which Rachel always loved every year, especially the fact that they were doing 'Wicked' this year which was Rachel's favourite musical in the whole world. Of course she couldn't forget the end of year prom, which she knew was a traditional year 11 thing; but Rachel thought that the kids deserved a prom every year apart from the fact that she secretly enjoyed it, it brought freshness to a hard year of work.

That's another thing; Rachel liked freshness in her life, which is why she always took to opening all of the windows in the school each morning before the students arrived. A habit that didn't go down too well on certain days. Most of the students moaned at Rachel for this, especially in the winter as Rachel would never allow the central heating system to be turned on until the stale air of the previous night was replaced with fresh air. As she strolled down the maths corridor opening the windows as she went she noticed that a light was coming from Eddie Lawson's Classroom.

"For crying out loud, is it so hard for the cleaners to switch the lights off when they've finished?" Rachel moaned to herself as she jolted open another window with a bit more vigour than she had anticipated. She turned to open the classroom door when she noticed Eddie Lawson slumped over his desk, his mouth slightly ajar. Rachel contemplated for a second whether or not to make her presence known as Eddie did look rather peaceful and it was only 8:15 am, maybe she could give him an extra 15 minutes. However that plan went straight out of the window as suddenly her mobile started to ring loudly which abruptly woke Eddie who immediately began to rub at his sore neck caused by his very awkward sleeping arrangements.

Rachel looked at her incoming call, it was Philip.

"Yeah Philip" Rachel answered in a loud whisper.

"What's with the whispering Rach" Asked Phillip, taking for granted that Rachel was the only one ever at school at 8:15 in the morning. Noticing that she probably seemed rather stupid whispering, Rachel straightened up.

"Oh nothing, I guess I just didn't want to disturb the peace that's all," replied Rachel in a more normal tone. She looked at a still disorientated Eddie and began to giggle through his classroom door as he knocked his coffee over the contents of his desk. "What did you want Philip?"

"Nothing just I really can't be arsed with sports day today, I was just wondering whether or not me, Bolton and Paul could take care of the prom decorations" Philip knew this was a long shot, after all he was asking the head teacher, his auntie whether he could bunk off school.

"What sort of a question is that?" Rachel asked immediately adopting her stern head teacher persona.

"I know it was a long shot Rach, sorry I'll see you at school."

Rachel sighed, she knew sports day wasn't really Philips scene and it wasn't like he was bunking off a regular lesson, after all it was just a bunch of kids playing football. "No Philip wait! Alright, you can sort out the prom decorations but I'm trusting you to use this time productively, I'll send Miss Campbell to supervise you."

Philip was astounded by how easy it was to get around Rachel lately, it was as though her head was on a different planet.

"I will Rach, thanks"

"Philip. Do not let me down, I'm trusting you" With that Rachel hung up the phone as an extremely peeved Eddie thumped out of his class room.

Rachel laughed at the sight that stood facing her, obviously peeved that he had been woken up and probably slightly embarrassed.

Good morning sleepy head" Said Rachel, cocking her head to one side to make innocence of her taunting.

"Rachel, my neck is in knots and I stayed here late last night finishing the end of year reports" Replied Eddie, lifting his hand again to rub at his painful neck.

"God, you really are a sight for sore eyes aren't you Lawson" Rachel teased once more, receiving a hoarse groan as a reply. "Come on the kids don't start until 10 today so we've still got nearly 2 hour so how about we let you freshen up at yours then pop down to Rita's for some morning grub?" Offered Rachel with a sympathetic smile as Eddie winced in pain.

"That sounds like a plan but I think we should walk, help blow the cob webs off." Eddie replied hosting a small smile.

They talked about pointless rubbish as they strolled to Eddie's house.

As they passed the play area, Rachel couldn't take her eyes off the young mums and their kids screaming with happiness. Rachel was brilliant with children, and plenty of people had told her too, the only problem was that no man stuck around long enough for her to have one of her own.

"I wish I had that Eddie," Rachel sighed.

"Had what?" Eddie asked, confused as to what it was exactly that Rachel was referring to.

"That! A little person needing me, somebody to call me mummy in the morning and leave sticky finger prints on the coffee table." Rachel smiled at the sight before her yet there was a look of pain in her eyes as she continued to observe. Eddie knew that whenever Rachel saw a mum and her child, it set of some sort of emotional pain. "Rachel, these women are a mother to one child, look at me." He stopped and turned Rachel to look at him, "400 kids need you Rachel; you're more of a mother than you think. Hell I know that these past 5 months Phillip sees you as more of a mother than his actual mother." Rachel let show a small smile of defeat, she knew that Eddie was right and she loved all the kids.

"Why do you have to prove me wrong so often Eddie?" Rachel smiled, a small tear forming in the ducts of her soft brown eyes.

"Well let's just say that I care Rachel" Eddie pulled Rachel into a comforting embrace as she buried her head into his chest for a short moment. Eddie was always good to Rachel, he would stand by her when she needed help even when she refused to take it. He would make her laugh when she was sad, and knew how much personal space to give her. However he always without fail told her when she was wrong, and made sure that she learned by her mistakes.

Once they reached Eddie's house Rachel perched herself on the end of his bed as she waited for him to emerge out of the shower so they could go to Rita's for a well needed coffee and bagel. She knew that Eddie was her deputy and that her personal connections with him should stay strictly professional, and don't get her wrong, they do. But Eddie was her closest friend. Rachel had also given to going on the odd night out with some of the girls from work and to her surprise had grown rather close to Steph Haydock, a revelation considering that just a few months ago the two of them were constantly at logger heads. Realistically, they still were at each others throats sometimes but Steph showed Rachel support when she needed it most and that meant the world to Rachel.

As Eddie emerged from his en suite bathroom, holding a towel over his groin area, Rachel was astounded at how ripped he actually was. His muscles were defined but not too much, there was still a little bit of flesh and Rachel liked that.

"What, did I cut myself shaving?" Eddie asked as he noticed her staring at him. Quickly snapping out of her trance, Rachel got her tongue tangled on her words, "what, no no…. um, get ready Eddie." With that Rachel quickly slipped out of Eddie's room and waited for him at the kitchen breakfast bar.

'Why does he do that to me?' Rachel mentally asked herself as she sat at the breakfast bar flicking through a magazine. 'God of all the people in the world, I chose Eddie to be attracted to, and it doesn't help him emerging from the shower naked and dripping wet leaving not much to the imagination.' Rachel continued to think of Eddie as he got ready and didn't even notice him barge his way down the stairs and stand in front of her.

Even as they drank coffee and munched on their wholemeal bagels, Rachel could not erase the image of a naked Eddie standing in front of her. To be perfectly honest Rachel had thought of very little other than Eddie Lawson lately, well she knew that she had a little thing for him. No correction, BIG thing for him but these days it was as though she was some sort of love struck teenager with an excessive overdrive of hormones. Rachel almost became completely lost in her thoughts and did not pay one bit of attention to Eddie who was rambling on about his new DIY talents as she held her bottom lip gently between her white porcelain teeth thinking about 'naked' Eddie.

"Rachel…Rachel." Eddie nudged her, bringing her sharply out of her trance.

"Huh… what?"

"Away with the fairies again were we" Eddie teased, grabbing his jacket from the seat beside him, "come on its quarter to ten, we'd better get back."

Chapter 2

When they got back to school, Eddie and Tom went about setting up a cricket pitch on the far side of the school field. Not that many people opted for a game of cricket as 99% of the students were either involved in the football matches or cheering from the sidelines. As Eddie rolled out the bag with all of the equipment in it, Tom practiced his over arm cricket throw, rejoicing to a fake crowd.

"I don't know what it is but I love sports day!" Tom claimed as he held his arms up in mock-glory. "A day of football, followed by a good old chin wag. Speaking of a good chin wag, Eddie how do you fancy coming with us lads to the prom tonight? Thought that the girls could go together and the lads could go together."

"Sound great Tom but I was actually planning on asking Rachel to go." As exciting as toms proposal was, this was probably the best opportunity Eddie had of showing Rachel how he felt. From the moment that he met Rachel he knew that she was the one however there was never that golden opportunity to tell her. 'Not that she would ever feel the same about me' Eddie thought to himself melancholically. Normally Eddie would have jumped at the chance of a lad's night out, even if it was only at the year 11 prom, but in all fairness he would jump a lot further for Rachel.

"Eddie, Eddie, I'm disappointed in you mate! Hang on a minute, do you mean you and Rachel going to the prom together, just the two of you?"

"No I thought I'd get Grantly to be my date instead," Eddie replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes at Tom's dumb question. "Yes just me and Rachel, why?"

By this point Tom was sporting a huge grin on his face as he started to chant

"Eddie and Rachel sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

"Behave your self" Eddie shook his head as Tom's pathetic attempt to taunt him about asking Rachel to the prom. "I'm just asking her to the year 11 prom, it's not like there's anything going on."

With a cheeky twinkle in his eye, Tom began to laugh at Eddie in despair,

"So you don't think Rachel's a bit of eye candy?"

"Well she's good looking, actually she's quite beautiful" Eddie replied. He did think Rachel was beautiful, extremely beautiful, he could almost see her chestnut brown hair, and her sometimes cherry pink lips that complimented her soft brown eyes. Yes, Eddie thought that Rachel was the most beautiful thing to ever walk planet earth.

Tom points an exaggerated finger at Eddie and began to jump around him like a kid proving an irrelevant point.

"HA! So you do like Rachel!"

"Ok now you're putting words into my mouth" Eddie laughed as he put the cricket bats into the box at the side of the pitch. Tom laughed and held his hands up innocently, "hey I'm just going with what you say."

Back inside of Waterloo Road the teachers had gathered in their usual social click in the staff room. Usually it was just Steph and Rachel, however they had some how found them selves host of Kim, Jasmine, and Matt.

"Come on Rachel, you must have done a few naughty things when you were a teenager" Steph claimed as she loved taking advantage of her and Rachel's budding friendship in the form of making an explicit statement.

"Actually I didn't" Rachel replied as she dipped a biscuit in her coffee and quickly slipped it into her mouth before continuing. "No, I had the same boyfriend for the five years I was at secondary school, so it didn't give me much room to play about.

"She did enough of that afterwards didn't she?" Grantly Budgins mumbled miserably as he wrote excessive criticism on an essay. It beat everybody why Grantly came into the staff room as all he did was moan and display his extremely anti-social character. The usually inevitable summer glow obviously was not having a positive affect on Grantly.

"Yeah well at least she got some Grantly," Jasmine commented receiving a giggle from the other women. "How are things with you and Fleur, those Gaul stones keeping you performance under wraps?"

Grantly just mumbled a bit more at Jasmines comment as he knew that he wouldn't make an audible dig at her after the other month when he faked a heart attack so that she would wait on him hand and foot. Just then the school bell rang, signalling the end of tutorial which simultaneously caused Rachel to jump up out of her seat and run out of the room. "I'll see you later on" she called as she ran out of the staffroom nearly knocking Grantly off his chair in the process.

"Right well then I'm off too, the joys of being an art teacher." This was supposed to be a fun relaxing day for Kim however Rachel had put her in charge of the prom decorations with the two most disruptive boys in the whole of year 11 and well Philip. Not that Philip was disruptive, in fact he was rather quiet but somehow he and Kim just didn't see eye to eye.

As Rachel struggled to make her way across the field in her new four inch stilettos without sinking into the grass, she could hear the football support from a rowdy crowd of year 11's.

"COME ON… GO ON SON!" Everybody cheered for their favoured team player who Rachel assumed was in possession of the ball. She didn't know an awful lot about football, well only that there was a ball involved. To be quite honest, she didn't care either. Rachel watched in amazement at how all aspects of professionalism drained from the male members of staff as soon as the word football is mentioned. You wouldn't have guessed in a month of Sundays that these men were in loco parentis of these children not to mention an authoritive figure. She took a moment to take in the scene, as she watched proudly from the background at everybody having so much fun. Eddie was right; Rachel was a mother figure to all of the students at Waterloo Road, and a friend to all of the staff. It was quite prominent that Rachel had the best of both worlds and no stretch marks as a consequence. It wasn't long before she spotted Eddie, giving some bad sideline coaching thinking that he was some sort of professional, holding his hands to his head as the opposing team scored a goal. 'What's this? Is it the FA cup?' Rachel thought as she witnessed the look of horror and defeat on Eddie's face.

"Come on Riley! Come on, it's not the flaming ballet!" Eddie shouted as the star of the football team made a clumsy pass to the mid-fielder.

"Eddie, it's just a game. Rachel claimed as she took her place next to Eddie, stealing the drink from his hands. Then it was as though she had committed some sort of horrid verbal crime as Eddie pointed his hands onto the pitch ready to make some drastic point about the rules of football fan ship.

"It is not just any game Rach, this is football." Rachel giggled slightly as the look of seriousness on Eddie's face as she chewed on the tip of his straw slightly; "and can you please stop chewing on my straw." Eddie went to remove the straw from Rachel's mouth when she blew a straw-full of Fanta in his face. Normally Eddie would have been enraged by such an action however because it was Rachel, all he could do was laugh as she cheekily grinned at him. But don't undermine him, it doesn't matter how soft his heart was for her she was not going to get away with it.

"Ok that's it young lady, now come here." Eddie grabbed Rachel and began to tickle her in her ribs, a great weakness of Rachel's as being tickled was one of the few things that she could not stand.

"No! Eddie! Eddie!" Rachel cried as she squirmed under the laughable torture.

"Well I'm keeping your arms locked so you can't cause anymore mischief today Miss Mason." Eddie laughed as he took place behind Rachel, holing her from behind in a tight yet comfortable hold. Eddie didn't realise that he continued to hold Rachel for the rest of the game, or that she let him, it just felt so right. There was that perfect mix of the summer air, her perfume, and shampoo giving a pleasant kick to his olfactory senses. Remembering that the prom was just 8 hours away, Eddie thought that he'd better get his skated on if he was going to ask Rachel to accompany him there.

"So how about I take you to the prom tonight Miss Mason?" Eddie asked in Rachel's ear.

"I thought you were going with the lads to the prom." Rachel replied quietly, not taking her eyes off of the game.

"Yeah well, I thought that maybe I'd ask you instead" Eddie whispered as he moved a stray clump of hair out of Rachel's eyes. The truth was that Eddie never intended on going to the prom with the guys, in fact he had a pleasant surprise set up for Rachel, all he needed was for her to accept his proposal.

"Ok then, it's a date" Rachel replied flicking Eddie her signature cheeky grin. She could not believe that Eddie had asked her to the prom. Rachel's high school prom did not go according to plan as her original date got involved in an accident, breaking his leg, leaving Rachel to wheel him in. But this was different, late but different; she was finally going to have a real date at a real prom. Rachel then noticed the grip that Eddie had embraced her in as her heart began to pound rapidly with thoughts of him.

Meanwhile Bolton, Phillip, and Paul were helping Kim Campbell with the decorations for the school prom for that night. Much to Kim's amazement she actually found that the three boys were good company, after all it did save her from having to sort out squabbling teenagers debating on who went in goal.

"Ow Miss, who did you get with at your prom?" Bolton called as he stapled a banner above the stage area. It didn't occur to Bolton Smilie that to a teacher this question was personally crossing the line however this was Bolton Smilie, one to never mince his words.

"Bolton, when I was at school we didn't 'hook' up. A boy would ask a girls father for permission to take his daughter to the school prom. Bolton let me let you in on a secret, being at a prom is supposed to be a chance for a girl to dress up and dance a bit not a golden opportunity to open her legs." Kim didn't take Bolton's remarks offensively; actually she liked an honest student. However she knew that Bolton was going for one reason and one reason only, to get into Michaela's knickers.

At the opposite end of the school hall, Phillip had already begun to blow up all of the pink and blue balloons that were supposed to fall on the last song of the night which everybody had chosen to be infinity 2008.

"Phillip, did you sort out how we three are getting to the prom then?" Paul asked as he picked up a balloon and begun to force air into it.

"I didn't, Rachel did" Replied Philip coolly as he tied a knot into one of the balloons. Suddenly Paul's face dropped as he immediately adopted an expression of disgust.

"Oh what have you gone and done you prat?" Paul said as he turned to face Bolton who was still on the ladders.

"Bolton smart arse here let Mason arrange our transport to the prom tonight"

The look on Bolton Smilie's face was an absolute picture as he looked as though he had also just sniffed shit.

"You better be lying! I'm not going to the prom in Mason's car that's just below the belt"

"I'm not lying, Rachel did organize out transport but lads do not be disappointed as you and your lucky date will be riding in one the one and only Harley 450! The latest motorbike to hit the market, well guys are we gonna stick or are we gonna gamble" Philip announced in a mock game show as he pulled out three temporary junior motorbike licences.

"Shut up" Bolton called as he jumped down from the ladder and grabbed the licence out of Philips hand. "Nah man you can't be serious, Mason actually did this?" Bolton asked as if what he was witnessing was almost too good to be true.

"Yeah, and it wasn't cheap to hire them out for the night, Rachel had to fork out a hell of a lot for insurance so be grateful" Phillip replied as he took the licence back from Bolton for safe keeping. Immediately the looks of disgust on the Lads faces turned into shrieks of joy as they buzzed about how all eyes would be on them as they arrived to the prom tonight.

Outside Eddie and Rachel had moved on to watch the rugby game between the AS and A2 students who probably wouldn't be at the prom that night as Rachel had organised a trip to Africa as a gift to them all. Eddie had resumed his place stood behind Rachel wrapping his arms around her stomach, holding her firmly to him. The best thing was that neither of them realised what they were doing, they didn't notice Eddie getting Rachel to leave the girls by lacing his fingers with her own and not letting go until they were five minutes into the rugby game. They didn't notice Rachel playing with Eddie's ring as he held her close to him; and they certainly didn't realise how they were laughing at each little thing the other said whether it was funny or not. However the most important thing of all was that neither of them noticed that they loved each other. The pair must have stood for at least 2 and half hours, lost in the touch of the each other and watching the sports games showing their support from the sidelines. Suddenly it began to rain a little and Rachel could feel the humidity in the air, which could only mean one thing; a thunderstorm was brewing. Thunder has always been a fear of Rachel's, not that she thought that she was in any immediate danger it was just that she hated how angry nature could get.

"Eddie I'm going in" Said Rachel as she turned in Eddie's hold so that she was facing him.

"Rach come on its only spitting, here you can have my jacket" Eddie offered thinking Rachel simply didn't like to get wet, when in fact he just lacked being able to read the weather. Just then the sky produced the biggest clap of thunder that anyone had ever heard, gaining a petrified scream from Rachel as she buried herself into Eddie for some sort of pointless protection.

"Eddie!" Rachel screamed into his chest causing him to giggle and hold her tightly.

"Come on then we'll go inside" Eddie laughed as he swayed Rachel slightly in his hold in order to sooth her fears a little. With that the heavens opened with a torrential downpour causing Eddie to again subconsciously take Rachel by the hand and run to the school for shelter.

As soon as they were in the school Rachel gave a huge sigh of relief, a little breathless from the running in four inch heels.

"Aw I didn't know that you were scared of thunder" Eddie teased as he moved the wet strands of hair from her face. Rachel looked at Eddie as if to say 'don't take the piss out of me it's not my fault' sporting a child like pout with it.

"I think it's cute" Eddie laughed making Rachel blush slightly at her child like fears. She knew that it was stupid but she liked the fact that despite it being stupid, Eddie was there to make her feel safe and secure. It was then that they noticed themselves holding hands. It was then that Rachel noticed the loving look in Eddie's eye and it was then that Eddie noticed the same loving look from Rachel. It was then that their chemistry fused together as their laughing quickly died down so that they were simply staring into each others eyes, every now and then glancing at the others lips. Then there it was, their lips brushed lightly for the first time. The passion that each of them felt coming together as their mouths crashed together, soon becoming a battle for dominance. As their kiss progressed, Rachel laced her fingers around Eddie's neck, tugging at his hair slightly whilst Eddie backed Rachel up into the wall a little harder than intended, causing her to lose her breath.

After a few minutes their kiss broke due to oxygen depletion; their lips slightly swollen.

"Rachel…" Eddie began, his chest rising and falling rapidly in a bid to regain some of the lost breath that had been stolen due to excessive passion for the woman in his arms.

"Eddie shut up" Replied Rachel just as breathless as she brought their mouths together once more. Just then the sound of Eddie's phone ringing broke their kiss, gaining a disappointed groan from Rachel as all she wanted was to have Eddie's mouth laced with her own, to continue exploring new territory with her tongue.

"Its tom" Eddie sighed as he gave Rachel on more butterfly kiss before answering. "Tom what is it?"

"Eddie where are you, we've got the staff football match now and its bloody pouring down."

"I've been a little distracted" Eddie replied giving a cheeky wink to Rachel causing her to giggle slightly and massage the side of his neck with soft tender butterfly kisses.

"Just get yourself out here now Lawson" Tom replied down the phone before hanging up."

Eddie put his phone back in his pocket before bringing Rachel's head up so that their lips could meet one last time, much to Rachel's despair.

"Right I'm off missus, I'll see you later on" He said before straightening his clothes and hair before turning to walk off.

"Eddie Wait there" Rachel called as Eddie turned to walk away. "We don't want everybody thinking that you wear makeup now do we?" She laughed as she wiped the traces of lipstick from eddies face.

As always with Eddie being the fittest member of staff at Waterloo road, he immediately was voted captain. Everybody's mind was focused on winning the game with sly yet cunning tactics; on the other hand the same couldn't be said for Eddie Lawson who's mind was firmly fixed on the subject of Rachel Mason.

"EDDIE! ARE YOU EFFING BLIND?!" Tom shouted as Eddie practically gave the ball away to the opposing team. Eddie laughed to himself and thought 'well they do say love is blind.' Not much more to be said of that game other than much to the students amusement it turned out to be one very muddy, three nil victory to the year 11's.

Back inside the school, Rachel decided that she had nothing to do so went off to watch the rehearsal of the musical down at the drama theatre. Not that she would be able to concentrate as he mind was saturated with thoughts of Eddie as she made her way to the theatre where Matt Wilding was going through a song with two students, Sambuca and Lauren._  
(spoken)" Dearest darlingest Momsie and Popsicle:  
(spoken) My dear Father:  
There's been some confusion  
Over rooming here at Shiz:  
But of course, I'll care for Nessa:  
But of course, I'll rise above it:  
For I know that's how you'd want me to respond  
(Spoken:) Yes  
There's been some confusion  
For you see, my roommate is:  
Unusually and exceedingly peculiar  
And altogether quite impossible to describe:  
Blonde.  
What is this feeling,  
So sudden and new?:  
I felt the moment  
I laid eyes on you;  
My pulse is rushing;  
My head is reeling;  
My face is flushing;  
What is this feeling?  
Fervid as a flame,  
Does it have a name?  
Yes! Loathing  
Unadulterated loathing:  
For your face;  
Your voice;  
Your clothing;  
Let's just say - I loathe it all  
Every little trait, however small  
Makes my very flesh begin to crawl  
With simple utter loathing  
There's a strange exhilaration  
In such total detestation  
It's so pure, so strong!  
Though I do admit it came on fast  
Still I do believe that it can last  
And I will be loathing  
Loathing you  
My whole life long!..."_

As they finished the song they received a solo applause from Matt Wilding as he approached the stage.

"Brilliant girls just brilliant, but remember Lauren, look cold and bitter you're the wicked Elphaba; and Sam, look uptight. Right now comes the choir! Remember guys you worship the ground that Glinda walks on, make us believe it."

_  
"Dear Galinda, you are just too good  
How do you stand it? I don't think I could!  
She's a terror! She's a Tartar!  
We don't mean to show a bias,  
But Galinda, you're a martyr  
Well; these things are sent to try us!_

Poor Galinda, forced to reside

_With someone so disgusticified  
We just want to tell you:  
We're all on your side!  
We share your;_

_  
What is this feeling  
So sudden and new?  
I felt the moment I laid eyes on you  
My pulse is rushing  
My head is reeling  
Oh, what is this feeling?  
Does it have a name?  
Yes  
Ahhh_

Loathing Unadulterated loathing  
For her face, her voice, her clothing  
let's just say - we loathe it all  
ev'ry little trait however small  
makes our very flesh being to crawl  
AHHH!  
Loathing!  
loathing  
There's a strange exhilaration:  
loathing  
In such total detestation :  
loathing  
It's so pure, so strong :  
So strong!  
Though I do admit it came on fast  
Still I do believe that it can last  
And I will be...  
loathing...  
loathing  
For forever...  
loathing...  
loathing,  
Truly deeply loathing you  
loathing you  
My whole Life long!

Loathing  
Unadulterated loathing  
Boo!  
AH!

After about ten minutes of watching the rehearsal Rachel took herself to her office to sort out her filing cabinet from any papers that were no longer needed. After all she was going to see the performance in about an hour and she needed to do something productive to get Eddie off her mind, and what work she had to do, her filing cabinet was crammed with odd bits of paper with no place to call home. One by one Rachel discarded un-wanted paper work as she tried to recollect in her mind what each form or letter was about before tossing it into the waste paper bin. Surprisingly Rachel's grand plan was working, the more Rachel focused on organizing her office, the less she thought about Eddie. For the best part of an hour and a half Rachel continued to rake through the remainder of her filing cabinet and had more or less sorted everything out when her phone sounded; it was a text from Eddie.

'Where are you? The musical's about to start I saved you a seat x'

As she sat down on the front row next to Eddie Rachel couldn't help but smell his cologne. Rachel often thought that Eddie wore a little bit too much but it was never the cheap high street stuff so she didn't mind.

"You smell good" Rachel whispered as she stole a Malteaser from Eddie.

"Thanks, so do you have any idea what we're in store for then?" Eddie whispered as he discreetly took hold of Rachel's hand, stroking it with the pad of his thumb.

"Oh they're doing 'Wicked' it's like the story of the two witches from the wizard of Oz I love it!" Rachel was highly excited about this years performance as Wicked just happened to be her most favoured musical of all time. However Eddie simply groaned at the thought of sitting through something that seemed rather girly.

"Oh god, I was hoping for the stage production of shameless" Eddie replied receiving a slap of the arm from Rachel.

"OI! This just happens to be the best musical ever Eddie now shush it's about to start."

"Good news, she's dead!  
The witch of the west is dead!  
The wickedest witch there ever was

the enemy of all of us here in Oz,

Is dead! Good news! Good news!

Look, it's Glinda!

It's good to see me, isn't it? (Ozians Agree) No need to respond that was rhetorical. Fellow Ozians:

Let is be glad,

Let us be grateful,

Let us rejoycify that goodness could subdue.

The wicked workings of you know who!

Isn't it nice to know

That good will conquer evil?

The truth we all believe will by and by

Outlive a lie

For you and…"

Much to Eddie's surprise the performance was spectacular and received a standing ovation from the whole of the audience including himself.

"I liked that" Eddie whispered in Rachel's ear producing a small giggle as she leaned up to reply.

"Told you so" She whispered cheekily, giving him a small discreet peck on the cheek.

After the long applause everybody made their way out of the hall, students tearing their school planners up down the corridor as they rushed out of the school and out of another year.

"Well then I guess that's it till September then" Eddie said looking around the hall as if he was taking in some grand memory.

"Eddie do you think we should tell everyone about us?" Rachel asked as they made their way out of the hall.

"All in good time Rach, all in good time" Eddie smiled as he walked Rachel to her office to get her bag.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 3

It was 7:30pm and the students and teachers of Waterloo Road had slowly begun to fill the hall for the end of the year prom.

Steph, Jasmine and Kim and Matt were sat at a table talking about fashion and Matts new boyfriend Richard.

It was now 7:35pm and a mad rushed Rachel had just finished carefully and artistically applying the finishing touches to her hair and makeup before spritzing herself generously with Chanel no.5 that Eddie had gotten her for Christmas, and that was before they started dating. As she gave herself the good to go in the mirror Rachel heard the doorbell ring. Closing her eyes in a prayer like desperation Rachel slowly made her way down the stairs, carefully avoiding tripping in her new 7 inch heels.

"Oh God please do not do this to me" Rachel pleaded as she reached for the door hoping that it was somebody she could get rid of quickly.

However when Rachel opened the door she was greeted by a very odd looking well dressed man. He was too smart to be a sales rep and normally they have a cheesy quality about them, whereas there was nothing cheesy about this man who was holding a small package in his clutched hands.

"Can I help you?" asked Rachel looking confused at the stranger stood before her.

"Good evening madam, I'm looking for a Miss Rachel Mason." The man even spoke well, which made Rachel even more curious to why he was standing on her doorstep, on tonight of all nights. He definitely was not a sales rep however Rachel smelled a rat, there was something going on that she didn't know about.

"You found her" Rachel replied still very confused.

"Well Ms Mason, my name is William and I will be your personal chauffer for tonight. I'm here to present to you a gift from a Mr Eddie Lawson, and last but not least… your car awaits you" Smiled William as he handed Rachel the small package in his hands before making his way towards the 1940's Bentley parked outside of her house.

'Eddie' Rachel thought with a gigantic Cheshire smile. She should have thought.

This was perfect Rachel thought to herself as she slid elegantly into the car. She could not believe it, she was just half an hour to spending a wonderful night with the man of her dreams. Of course she had spent numerous nights with Eddie, usually sat on the sofa and the odd trip to lunch but nothing mounted up to what tonight meant for Rachel. About ten minutes into the journey Rachel noticed the small package in her hands, she was so caught up in the moment of the surprise that she had completely forgotten about Eddie's gift until now. She spent a moment studying the package trying to decode its meaning, wondering what could be inside. As she unravelled the bow of string tying the soft turquoise material together, a diamond bracelet slid out onto her lap. Rachel immediately felt tears form in the corner of her eyes as she realised that this was not just any ordinary diamond bracelet, it was the limited edition tiffany diamond bracelet that she had been looking at in ridiculous admiration for months. She felt her heart warm up inside her as she fixed the bracelet around her wrist as silently thanking for whatever had impelled Eddie to do this. Surely there could not be anymore surprises, as exquisite as all of these gifts were, Rachel was still adamant that she did not deserve all of this. In a desperate bid to not become emotionally overwhelmed Rachel closed her eyes and took several deep breaths before stepping out of the car at the school.

Back at the school hall things were in full swing however Eddie's eyes were fixed on the door. Rachel was late, she should have arrived 15 minutes ago; Eddie's hands began to get clammy as he contemplated the fact that maybe she wasn't going to turn up. Just then the whole room went silent as the most beautiful figure that Eddie had ever seen, stood elegantly in the door way.

"Christ!" Tom said as he like every other man in the room noticed how jaw-droppingly stunning Rachel Mason was. Immediately Eddie became speechless as he stood to greet the magnificent sight before him. He looked at Rachel from head to toe, she was intoxicating, her hair artistically defined to give an effortless messed up look. Her eyes smouldering as he could see that the window to her soul was full of passion and emotion; her lips were as crimson as the most beautiful red rose could be. This was only the start of Eddie's admiration for Rachel, as his eyes continued to trace up and down the one shouldered black dress that carefully enhanced the perfect bust, yet safely covered her scar.

Immediately standing up Eddie approached her in absolute awe.

"You look amazing" Eddie whispered in Rachel's ear as he led her across the room by the hand. He could not believe it, he was very aware of Rachel's beauty but his breath was literally stolen as he held her hand. Of course this went over everybody's head as everyone took it for granted that he was just taking her to their table.

As the evening passed, Rachel and Eddie were becoming more and more lost in each other as they had now completely separated themselves from the other members of staff. The sparkle in Rachel's eyes alone could have lit up the whole room with more intensity than the brightest lights available to man. Also, things weren't looking too bad for Philip either as he danced with Danielle Harker, just the two of them. Despite a rocky start to Philips year at Waterloo Road, he and Danielle had grown extremely close and had been going out for about two months now.

"Phil you know despite what everyone said before, you're the nicest, kindest, most loving person I've ever met," Danielle said as she looked lovingly into Philips eyes as she watched a teenage love struck grin spread across his face as he leaned down to kiss her. However their bliss was short lived as Bolton Smilie took it in his stride to announce them to the whole of the room, making Danielle blush as the two of them were bombarded with wolf whistles from every angle.

"Looks like Philips having a good time" Eddie laughed as he point towards Philip and Danielle getting off with each other in the corner.

"Yeah, it's nice to see somebody take a shine to him for a change" Rachel replied as she watched the cute teenager love scene from across the room.

Eddie looked at Rachel and let out a small laugh before pulling her closer to him so that one of his arms were draped comfortably around her waist as they watched everybody dance and have a good time.

Eddie put his hand on Rachel's face, turning her to face him. For a moment that's all he did before descending into a kiss, however just before their lips met Rachel looked to the floor, causing Eddie to look rather baffled.

"Rachel, what's wrong?" Eddie asked thinking that he might have done something to upset her.

"Nothing, it's just we haven't told anybody about us yet" Rachel said as she pointed out their potential audience. Eddie gave a small giggle of relief as he had completely forgotten about everybody else in the room for a moment.

"Well then I guess they'll find out now then won't they?" Eddie smiled cheekily as he descended again to kiss Rachel however their moment of passion was interrupted yet again. This time not by Rachel but by Steph Haydock as she called upon the attention of the whole room.

"Attention everybody!" Steph called from the microphone. "I would like to take this chance to thank two people who have transformed this school, ladys and gentleman, please take this opportunity to raise your glasses to the wonderful Eddie and Rachel!"

"What is Steph Haydock doing now" Rachel sighed as she knew that Steph couldn't behave herself for one night, she always had something up her sleeve.

"Eddie and Rachel" The whole room started to clap as they raised their glasses in a toast.

"Everybody please welcome Eddie Lawson who is going to say a few words now" Steph announced as Eddie gave a sigh of annoyance.

"So much for that kiss" he groaned as he made his way to the stage.

"Thank you Steph," Eddie replied as he took over the microphone at the centre of the stage. "Well what can I say? It's been one hell of a year! Each and every one of you are special to this school, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for not giving up when times were hard. Things haven't always been a walk in the park for Waterloo Road, and there have been many occasions where out patience, out loyalty and our strength have been put to the test. You've probably heard myself and other members of staff remind you that you should never look down on anybody else unless you're helping them up. I can safely say that no matter how much we all lose it, there is always one person that keeps us all together, without her there is no Waterloo Road. This woman put her career, her dignity, her life on the line for this school and," Eddie didn't take his eyes off of Rachel as he took a deep breath before continuing. I…I… well I love her"

Eddie looked at Rachel, who's face was soaked with tears as she smiled at him. As he decended off the stage and took her hand infront of the whole room Rachel's heart fluttered with love as the tears continued to trickle like diamonds down her face.

"Rachel Mason I love you" Eddie announced as he gazed into her eyes.

"I love you too" She replied, giving a small laugh before bringing their lips together in the most sensational kiss that man could ever witness. The whole room suddenly erupted into an applause as they witnessed what was going to be a love that would last forever.


End file.
